Chapter - 33
By Tea Time Translations
Jiafu helped Pei You'an sit on the bed and, about to call for someone to bring tea and water for him, she suddenly noticed some bloodstains on his left sleeve. Her gaze fixed on the bloodstains, and she was alarmed. "Cousin, you're injured?"
Pei You'an was not accustomed to drinking alcohol, but tonight, at the gathering of the southwestern chieftains, he had made an exception. As the chiefs insisted on toasting him, he couldn't refuse their hospitality. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the alcohol, he followed her gaze and glanced at his arm. Seeing her concerned expression, he reassured her, "It's just a minor scrape, not a real injury."
Jiafu replied anxiously, "But there's blood! How can you say it's not an injury?" She hurriedly fetched the bottle of ointment he had given her earlier, washed her hands, and returned with it.
The wound on his arm had already been treated, and the bleeding had stopped. However, it seemed that the alcohol had caused some blood to seep out again. It was not a serious issue, but seeing her so worried, Pei You'an didn't object to receiving additional treatment. He sat quietly and watched her take care of him.
Jiafu removed his outer garments, rolled up his sleeves, and carefully unwound the makeshift tourniquet that the guard had placed on his arm. She saw a roughly inch-long cut with some blood slowly oozing out.
Normally, she was quite squeamish about seeing blood, but this time, the sight of his wound made her feel as if it were her own injury. She wasn't repelled by it at all. Instead, she felt immense concern. She gently applied the hemostatic ointment to his arm. She remembered the slight stinging sensation when he had applied the ointment to her wound earlier. So, she leaned in closer and blew gently on the wound, trying to soothe it.
The sensation of her breath cooling his wound felt soothing, and there was a faint itch, like a gentle feather brushing over his skin. Pei You'an endured it as best as he could and refrained from pulling his arm away. With her face so close to his, he also caught the sweet and fragrant scent that emanated from her skin – a completely different aroma from the deliberate fragrance he had detected in the China Public Office last year. Hers was a soft, warm, and pleasant scent that he had slowly grown accustomed to. Whenever he smelled it, it inexplicably lifted his mood.
"Cousin, bear with it a bit longer, and the pain will subside. I did the same last time," she comforted him.
Listening to her comforting words, Pei You'an, with the effects of the alcohol in his system, began to feel drowsy and gradually closed his eyes.
Jiafu finished applying the ointment and carefully wrapped the bandage around his arm. When she went to help him lie down, her fingertips brushed his shoulder. At that moment, Pei You'an suddenly opened his eyes and raised a hand slightly to signal her to stop. He said, "Cousin, there's something I need to discuss with you."
His tone had taken on a more serious note.
Jiafu stopped and looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Tomorrow, we'll be heading back, and once we're there, I'll arrange for someone to escort you to Quanzhou," he said gently.
Jiafu's heart sank as if it had been struck unexpectedly. She stared at him, unable to find the words.
Pei You'an smiled and continued, "Don't worry, I won't forget the promise I made to you earlier."
Although she knew that he would eventually send her away, hearing it directly from him felt sudden and overwhelming.
Jiafu was truly unprepared for this news, and her heart was in turmoil. After gathering her thoughts, she forced a smile and said, "Thank you, Cousin. But, do I have to leave right now? Can't it wait a little longer? I promise I'll listen to you, won't argue with you, won't get into fights, and won't make you angry again..."
Her voice quivered, hinting at her distress.
Pei You'an didn't look at her with her two pleading eyes and responded with silence.
Jiafu's heart sank bit by bit.
"... Do I really have to leave now? Can't it be delayed for a while? I promise to be obedient and not make you angry..." Her voice was now tinged with a hint of crying.
A surge of alcohol rolled within him. Despite the open window, Pei You'an felt suffocated, his throat constricted, and his breath labored. Drunkenness welled up within his chest.
She thought he was angry...
Pei You'an took a moment to steady himself. He decided to explain the reason for her departure. There was no turning back now, and before long, even before she arrived in Quanzhou, the whole world would know. This was why today's mediation had to be successful. Failure was not an option.
"It has nothing to do with you. Something happened at the Wang Residence. I received news yesterday that His Majesty called the Crown Prince to the capital for a ceremony to honor the ancestors. However, the Crown Prince killed the royal envoy sent for him, which forced Prince Yunzhong to rise in rebellion."
Pei You'an spoke in a calm and gentle tone, as if he were afraid of frightening her. It also seemed like he had already anticipated this day but didn't know when it would come or what would trigger it.
Now, everything made sense.
Just a few days ago, another imperial envoy had arrived in the capital, and the Emperor summoned the Crown Prince of Yunzhong, Xiao Yintang, to enter the capital immediately. The purpose of his arrival was naturally to serve as a hostage. When Yunzhongwang received the imperial edict and delayed his departure, Xiao Yintang sent someone to kill the envoy. In this way, he made a decisive move on behalf of his father.
Jiafu was stunned.
She knew that around this time, the Emperor would confront Yunzhongwang, leading to an outbreak of war. Afterward, Yunzhongwang would enter the capital and declare himself emperor.
However, she didn't know the true cause of these events.
It turned out that this was the beginning of the nightmare from her past life.
Pei You'an looked at her pale face and spoke in an even softer tone, "If my calculations are correct, the war will break out soon. I won't be able to take you with me, and it won't be safe here either. In contrast, Quanzhou, although it's not immune to the war, is further away from the conflict zone. It should be a relatively peaceful place. After you return, there will be people to protect you and your family. You can rest assured."
Jiafu wasn't sure who he had arranged to protect her, but since he had made the arrangements, she believed that during the time after her return, that person might indeed be able to protect her.
But what about the near future? When Yunzhongwang became emperor and Xiao Yintang became the crown prince, the power he could wield would be immense. At that time, if he still had no intention of letting her go, could the person he sent to protect her really safeguard her against the power of the crown prince? And where would Pei You'an be at that time?
Perhaps, the most likely outcome was that they would part ways here, and she might never have the opportunity to meet Pei You'an again.
She longed to do what she had done the first time she met him at the inn – rush into the arms of the man before her, hold him tightly, and beg him to allow her to stay under his protection. She didn't want him to push her out of his world like this.
But she knew that this was his final decision, one that would not change.
She stared at him blankly.
He remained silent for a moment, then seemed to be overcome by a wave of drunkenness. He lay down with his clothes on, closed his eyes, and calmly told her that she could return to her room, that he didn't need her to stay.
Jiafu returned to the room next to his in a daze, her whole being seized by a sense of impending doom. Knowing the terrible things that would happen in the future but being powerless to escape them was the greatest fear.
As the night grew late, the atmosphere in the chieftain's residence gradually quieted down. Jiafu held her breath, pressed her ear tightly against the wall, and listened to the sounds coming from the adjacent room.
He was drunk, sleeping deeply. Jiafu listened for a long time but didn't hear any movement.
She curled up on the bed, her body motionless in the shadows of the night. She sat like this for a long time, then finally climbed out of bed and left the room silently.
...
Tonight, Pei You'an was drunk. When he first returned, he might not have been so deeply intoxicated, but after sending her away, his mood sank, and with it, the drunkenness surged in from all sides, overwhelming him.
In the end, he even had a dream, a disjointed collection of old memories about a sixteen-year-old boy.
In that year, the boy returned to the capital supporting his father's spirit from the battlefield. On the night right after the funeral, he went to visit his bedridden mother, Lady Xin, with a heavy heart.
The servants told him that Lady Xin was still in the small memorial hall. He went there and saw her back.
She was alone in front of his father's memorial tablet, her back frozen.
The boy stood at the entrance to the memorial hall, about to enter when Lady Xin suddenly cursed in a low voice at the memorial tablet, her voice filled with resentment.
"Sixteen years!"
"You heartless man!"
"I accepted the illegitimate child you brought in from outside as my son, watching him take everything that should have belonged to my son! And now, you're dead like this?"
"The damn one should be him! Why isn't he dead yet? Wasn't it said that he wouldn't live past ten years old? How many years has it been now?"
The poor widow was immersed in endless grief and resentment that was rightfully hers, unaware that the boy had come and quietly left.
The young man in the dream was of noble status, exceptionally talented, and in the eyes of others, he was a prodigy. The only regret in his life was probably his weak constitution. But only the young man himself knew that his physical weakness was not his greatest pain; it stemmed from the treatment he received from his mother.
He was born exceptionally bright. While other children his age were still naïve, he had impressions. Lady Xin did not like him. Not only did she not like him, but she also harbored a strong aversion toward him. In private, she would stare at him with a kind of gaze that haunted him for a long time. Regardless of how outstanding he was, even more so, the more outstanding he became, the more he felt a sense of disgust from her. However, his innate restraint destined that he would not reveal this inner shadow to anyone, not even in front of his father and grandmother. Knowing it himself was enough.
Even so, it did not prevent him from wanting to mend his relationship with Lady Xin, especially after his father's recent passing.
When he was younger, he sometimes speculated that Lady Xin's dislike for him might be due to his frail health. Therefore, he studied medicine, martial arts, hoping that one day he could have a healthy body like everyone else.
Little did he know, Lady Xin's dislike for him was because of his illegitimate origin.
He was not the legitimate eldest son of the Pei family.
He was just a bastard his father had brought back from outside.
This accidental revelation plunged the sixteen-year-old young man into a profound self-denial and disgust. Everything he had taken for granted suddenly collapsed overnight.
Then, three months later, on a certain deep night when his father's mourning period was about to end, something happened that would profoundly affect his life.
His father's concubine was found hanging from a tree in front of his residence late at night, and her body was discovered the next morning. Rumors began to spread, with some claiming that he had assaulted her, and the concubine, unable to bear the humiliation, had hung herself in front of his residence.
He left the capital in a way that marked the end of his adolescent years. He didn't belong there; he had been handed over, and it was only right.
As an adult, Pei You'an had never dreamt, despite being a light sleeper. However, tonight, he was trapped in an unpleasant dream. In the dream, he went back to that time when he appeared glamorous to outsiders but was actually living in a suppressed and gloomy adolescence. In a daze, the young man found himself back in the icy, snowy wastelands beyond the Great Wall, surrounded by dismembered limbs and skeletons, like hell itself. He felt alternating waves of cold and heat, unable to rest. In the midst of this turmoil, a familiar sensation of warmth, sweetness, and tenderness infiltrated his senses. Holding something soft and yielding in his arms, the darkness in his dream gradually dissipated. In his restless slumber, he unconsciously yearned for this warmth, chasing it with reluctance.
When Jiafu was pulled into Pei You'an's embrace, she was initially startled. Her body stiffened for a moment, but as she felt his warm, alcohol-laden breath brushing against her face, she realized he was still asleep. Her body gradually succumbed to a slight shiver, her heart racing, and her skin flushed with heat.
With resolve, Jiafu shamelessly held onto him and waited for him to sober up.
She leaned closer to him, pressing herself against him until she was fully nestled in his embrace. Her eyelashes trembled as she slowly closed her eyes.
Chapter - 33
By Tea Time Translations
Jiafu helped Pei You'an sit on the bed and, about to call for someone to bring tea and water for him, she suddenly noticed some bloodstains on his left sleeve. Her gaze fixed on the bloodstains, and she was alarmed. "Cousin, you're injured?"
Pei You'an was not accustomed to drinking alcohol, but tonight, at the gathering of the southwestern chieftains, he had made an exception. As the chiefs insisted on toasting him, he couldn't refuse their hospitality. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the alcohol, he followed her gaze and glanced at his arm. Seeing her concerned expression, he reassured her, "It's just a minor scrape, not a real injury."
Jiafu replied anxiously, "But there's blood! How can you say it's not an injury?" She hurriedly fetched the bottle of ointment he had given her earlier, washed her hands, and returned with it.
The wound on his arm had already been treated, and the bleeding had stopped. However, it seemed that the alcohol had caused some blood to seep out again. It was not a serious issue, but seeing her so worried, Pei You'an didn't object to receiving additional treatment. He sat quietly and watched her take care of him.
Jiafu removed his outer garments, rolled up his sleeves, and carefully unwound the makeshift tourniquet that the guard had placed on his arm. She saw a roughly inch-long cut with some blood slowly oozing out.
Normally, she was quite squeamish about seeing blood, but this time, the sight of his wound made her feel as if it were her own injury. She wasn't repelled by it at all. Instead, she felt immense concern. She gently applied the hemostatic ointment to his arm. She remembered the slight stinging sensation when he had applied the ointment to her wound earlier. So, she leaned in closer and blew gently on the wound, trying to soothe it.
The sensation of her breath cooling his wound felt soothing, and there was a faint itch, like a gentle feather brushing over his skin. Pei You'an endured it as best as he could and refrained from pulling his arm away. With her face so close to his, he also caught the sweet and fragrant scent that emanated from her skin – a completely different aroma from the deliberate fragrance he had detected in the China Public Office last year. Hers was a soft, warm, and pleasant scent that he had slowly grown accustomed to. Whenever he smelled it, it inexplicably lifted his mood.
"Cousin, bear with it a bit longer, and the pain will subside. I did the same last time," she comforted him.
Listening to her comforting words, Pei You'an, with the effects of the alcohol in his system, began to feel drowsy and gradually closed his eyes.
Jiafu finished applying the ointment and carefully wrapped the bandage around his arm. When she went to help him lie down, her fingertips brushed his shoulder. At that moment, Pei You'an suddenly opened his eyes and raised a hand slightly to signal her to stop. He said, "Cousin, there's something I need to discuss with you."
His tone had taken on a more serious note.
Jiafu stopped and looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Tomorrow, we'll be heading back, and once we're there, I'll arrange for someone to escort you to Quanzhou," he said gently.
Jiafu's heart sank as if it had been struck unexpectedly. She stared at him, unable to find the words.
Pei You'an smiled and continued, "Don't worry, I won't forget the promise I made to you earlier."
Although she knew that he would eventually send her away, hearing it directly from him felt sudden and overwhelming.
Jiafu was truly unprepared for this news, and her heart was in turmoil. After gathering her thoughts, she forced a smile and said, "Thank you, Cousin. But, do I have to leave right now? Can't it wait a little longer? I promise I'll listen to you, won't argue with you, won't get into fights, and won't make you angry again..."
Her voice quivered, hinting at her distress.
Pei You'an didn't look at her with her two pleading eyes and responded with silence.
Jiafu's heart sank bit by bit.
"... Do I really have to leave now? Can't it be delayed for a while? I promise to be obedient and not make you angry..." Her voice was now tinged with a hint of crying.
A surge of alcohol rolled within him. Despite the open window, Pei You'an felt suffocated, his throat constricted, and his breath labored. Drunkenness welled up within his chest.
She thought he was angry...
Pei You'an took a moment to steady himself. He decided to explain the reason for her departure. There was no turning back now, and before long, even before she arrived in Quanzhou, the whole world would know. This was why today's mediation had to be successful. Failure was not an option.
"It has nothing to do with you. Something happened at the Wang Residence. I received news yesterday that His Majesty called the Crown Prince to the capital for a ceremony to honor the ancestors. However, the Crown Prince killed the royal envoy sent for him, which forced Prince Yunzhong to rise in rebellion."
Pei You'an spoke in a calm and gentle tone, as if he were afraid of frightening her. It also seemed like he had already anticipated this day but didn't know when it would come or what would trigger it.
Now, everything made sense.
Just a few days ago, another imperial envoy had arrived in the capital, and the Emperor summoned the Crown Prince of Yunzhong, Xiao Yintang, to enter the capital immediately. The purpose of his arrival was naturally to serve as a hostage. When Yunzhongwang received the imperial edict and delayed his departure, Xiao Yintang sent someone to kill the envoy. In this way, he made a decisive move on behalf of his father.
Jiafu was stunned.
She knew that around this time, the Emperor would confront Yunzhongwang, leading to an outbreak of war. Afterward, Yunzhongwang would enter the capital and declare himself emperor.
However, she didn't know the true cause of these events.
It turned out that this was the beginning of the nightmare from her past life.
Pei You'an looked at her pale face and spoke in an even softer tone, "If my calculations are correct, the war will break out soon. I won't be able to take you with me, and it won't be safe here either. In contrast, Quanzhou, although it's not immune to the war, is further away from the conflict zone. It should be a relatively peaceful place. After you return, there will be people to protect you and your family. You can rest assured."
Jiafu wasn't sure who he had arranged to protect her, but since he had made the arrangements, she believed that during the time after her return, that person might indeed be able to protect her.
But what about the near future? When Yunzhongwang became emperor and Xiao Yintang became the crown prince, the power he could wield would be immense. At that time, if he still had no intention of letting her go, could the person he sent to protect her really safeguard her against the power of the crown prince? And where would Pei You'an be at that time?
Perhaps, the most likely outcome was that they would part ways here, and she might never have the opportunity to meet Pei You'an again.
She longed to do what she had done the first time she met him at the inn – rush into the arms of the man before her, hold him tightly, and beg him to allow her to stay under his protection. She didn't want him to push her out of his world like this.
But she knew that this was his final decision, one that would not change.
She stared at him blankly.
He remained silent for a moment, then seemed to be overcome by a wave of drunkenness. He lay down with his clothes on, closed his eyes, and calmly told her that she could return to her room, that he didn't need her to stay.
Jiafu returned to the room next to his in a daze, her whole being seized by a sense of impending doom. Knowing the terrible things that would happen in the future but being powerless to escape them was the greatest fear.
As the night grew late, the atmosphere in the chieftain's residence gradually quieted down. Jiafu held her breath, pressed her ear tightly against the wall, and listened to the sounds coming from the adjacent room.
He was drunk, sleeping deeply. Jiafu listened for a long time but didn't hear any movement.
She curled up on the bed, her body motionless in the shadows of the night. She sat like this for a long time, then finally climbed out of bed and left the room silently.
...
Tonight, Pei You'an was drunk. When he first returned, he might not have been so deeply intoxicated, but after sending her away, his mood sank, and with it, the drunkenness surged in from all sides, overwhelming him.
In the end, he even had a dream, a disjointed collection of old memories about a sixteen-year-old boy.
In that year, the boy returned to the capital supporting his father's spirit from the battlefield. On the night right after the funeral, he went to visit his bedridden mother, Lady Xin, with a heavy heart.
The servants told him that Lady Xin was still in the small memorial hall. He went there and saw her back.
She was alone in front of his father's memorial tablet, her back frozen.
The boy stood at the entrance to the memorial hall, about to enter when Lady Xin suddenly cursed in a low voice at the memorial tablet, her voice filled with resentment.
"Sixteen years!"
"You heartless man!"
"I accepted the illegitimate child you brought in from outside as my son, watching him take everything that should have belonged to my son! And now, you're dead like this?"
"The damn one should be him! Why isn't he dead yet? Wasn't it said that he wouldn't live past ten years old? How many years has it been now?"
The poor widow was immersed in endless grief and resentment that was rightfully hers, unaware that the boy had come and quietly left.
The young man in the dream was of noble status, exceptionally talented, and in the eyes of others, he was a prodigy. The only regret in his life was probably his weak constitution. But only the young man himself knew that his physical weakness was not his greatest pain; it stemmed from the treatment he received from his mother.
He was born exceptionally bright. While other children his age were still naïve, he had impressions. Lady Xin did not like him. Not only did she not like him, but she also harbored a strong aversion toward him. In private, she would stare at him with a kind of gaze that haunted him for a long time. Regardless of how outstanding he was, even more so, the more outstanding he became, the more he felt a sense of disgust from her. However, his innate restraint destined that he would not reveal this inner shadow to anyone, not even in front of his father and grandmother. Knowing it himself was enough.
Even so, it did not prevent him from wanting to mend his relationship with Lady Xin, especially after his father's recent passing.
When he was younger, he sometimes speculated that Lady Xin's dislike for him might be due to his frail health. Therefore, he studied medicine, martial arts, hoping that one day he could have a healthy body like everyone else.
Little did he know, Lady Xin's dislike for him was because of his illegitimate origin.
He was not the legitimate eldest son of the Pei family.
He was just a bastard his father had brought back from outside.
This accidental revelation plunged the sixteen-year-old young man into a profound self-denial and disgust. Everything he had taken for granted suddenly collapsed overnight.
Then, three months later, on a certain deep night when his father's mourning period was about to end, something happened that would profoundly affect his life.
His father's concubine was found hanging from a tree in front of his residence late at night, and her body was discovered the next morning. Rumors began to spread, with some claiming that he had assaulted her, and the concubine, unable to bear the humiliation, had hung herself in front of his residence.
He left the capital in a way that marked the end of his adolescent years. He didn't belong there; he had been handed over, and it was only right.
As an adult, Pei You'an had never dreamt, despite being a light sleeper. However, tonight, he was trapped in an unpleasant dream. In the dream, he went back to that time when he appeared glamorous to outsiders but was actually living in a suppressed and gloomy adolescence. In a daze, the young man found himself back in the icy, snowy wastelands beyond the Great Wall, surrounded by dismembered limbs and skeletons, like hell itself. He felt alternating waves of cold and heat, unable to rest. In the midst of this turmoil, a familiar sensation of warmth, sweetness, and tenderness infiltrated his senses. Holding something soft and yielding in his arms, the darkness in his dream gradually dissipated. In his restless slumber, he unconsciously yearned for this warmth, chasing it with reluctance.
When Jiafu was pulled into Pei You'an's embrace, she was initially startled. Her body stiffened for a moment, but as she felt his warm, alcohol-laden breath brushing against her face, she realized he was still asleep. Her body gradually succumbed to a slight shiver, her heart racing, and her skin flushed with heat.
With resolve, Jiafu shamelessly held onto him and waited for him to sober up.
She leaned closer to him, pressing herself against him until she was fully nestled in his embrace. Her eyelashes trembled as she slowly closed her eyes.
